27Jan2011

Maldives Arrival!

As predicted, the wind got light our 7th and last night of the passage. That wind change along with a bit of light rain occurred as we passed through an east to west squall line. We ran the engine to maintain average speed of 8.3 knots to assure arrival at the anchorage before nightfall.

Fortunately by mid morning the wind picked up and we were able to sail at over 9 knots in smooth seas with full main and mizzen the rest of the way.

The Maldives consists of 1190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls. The highest point is 2.4 meters above sea level. For obvious reasons people here are concerned about sea level rise. The population is about 400,000. Maldives is a Muslim country so we won't be seeing bikini clad locals at the beach. . .

Because the islands are so low, they are not visible until one is pretty close. We spotted them when we were about 10 miles distant.

We anchored in the lee of Uligan off a coral reef with 5 other cruising sailboats. Within 30 minutes of anchoring an just as we were launching our dinghy to seek out customs and immigration, a small outboard loaded with 7 officials came out to check us in. In contrast to officials in some other countries, they took off their boots before boarding and were very concerned about their boat bumping into Convergence when they boarded us.

The process of being checked in by health, customs, immigration, port and military officials was very efficient and cordial.

The officials told us that all 5 of the other boats anchored here arrived the day we did! Scores more will be arriving over the next couple of months from Thailand, most on their way to the Red Sea as we are.

Joseph and I celebrated with our first alcoholic beverage since we left Phuket. Kelly who is a teetotaler celebrated with a coke. We gave Joseph the night off as chef as Kelly prepared a tasty pasta and red sauce dinner. Randy cleaned up.

While we are all well rested due to our watch system of three hours on and six off, we all enjoyed a continuous 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

We are off to shore this morning to explore and do some shopping for a few things including a courtesy flag for Convergence.

We completed the 1547 nautical mile passage in 7 days and 8 hours for an average speed of 8.8 knots or 212 miles per day. We were happy to beat our planned speed of 8.3 knots/200 miles a day!

Randy

Photo of Maldives Officials >